


Because Ben Chang is Crazy

by virgo_writer



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Episode: s03e14 Pillows and Blankets, F/M, Study Group
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-15
Updated: 2013-12-15
Packaged: 2018-01-04 16:32:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1083204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/virgo_writer/pseuds/virgo_writer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jeff doesn't form the study group.  This is how they meet. AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. French 101

Señor Chang is crazy. Like bat-shit, out-of-his-mind, fear-for-your-freakin'-life crazy.

To be fair, Jeff thinks that everyone at Greendale Community College is suffering from some kind of undiagnosed mental condition, but Ben Chang seems to have taken up more than his fair share of that insanity.

For this reason, Jeff Winger drops Spanish 101 and signs up from French 101. Introductory French will serve his language requirements just as well as Spanish and he's sure to get more play out of the former.

There's a hot blonde in his spanish class that almost has him reconsidering on Spanish 101. 

But then he remembers that Señor Chang is CRAZY and refuses to regret his decision.


	2. Study Group

Annie Edison had announced her intention to form a study group at the end of their first Spanish lesson.  in fact, she'd made the same announcement in all of her classes and even posted flyers on the community noticeboard about where and when the group would be meeting.

After two weeks she's still the only member of her Spanish/Astronomy/Accounting/English Writing/Psychology/Health Science study group.

* * *

Abed Nadir spotted said flyer a week later.  The brightly coloured, hand-made flyer had easily drawn his attention, and while he didn't really need a Spanish study group, he could see the appeal.

And maybe he thought he could study the group itself.  Group dynamics and ensemble casts were always hard to get your head around.  

* * *

Troy Barnes had seen the same flyer earlier that day.  It was convenient as he was on the market for a Spanish tutor and the ones over at the student union had pretty much refused to do his homework for him.  Hopefully an unofficial tutor would be less picky about things like "plagiarism" and "academic integrity".  

For all the noise they were making, you'd think he was asking them to cheat for him. 

* * *

 

Britta Perry learnt about the study group from Abed when she once again needed to borrow a pencil from him in Spanish class.  She mentioned her ongoing concerns about Spanish 101 and Abed suggested that she join 'his' study group.

Abed hoped the groups founder wouldn't mind too much if he did some casting of his own.

* * *

After the first study group meeting, Abed added two more members to the regular cast: Pierce Hawthorne and Shirley Bennet.  Between Annie's Type A, Troy's Jock and Britta's Bleeding Heart he needed to find the appropriate character archetypes to balance out the other group members.

Sassy Black Woman had seemed an obvious choice and Grumpy Old Man would serve as comic relief if he was wrong about the genre (He was pretty sure they were a comedy, but it paid to be prepared in case they accidentally found themselves cast in a drama).  As luck would have it, there were two such people in their Spanish class that fit the character tropes to a 'T'.

It was too bad he couldn't find a Only Sane Man, Redeemable Jerkass to fall into the position of leader by defunct.  Those were the breaks, he supposed.  They'd just have to work around it until something showed up.


	3. Boy Meets Girl

This is how they met.

It's year three.  Greendale Civil War.

Jeff has just given a rousing speech to the people of Blanketsburg in what will later be described as a "Ferris Buellerian attempt to delay school work" when a tiny burnet in a tight yellow sweater storms up to him.

"You're Jeff Winger, right?" The words are flirty but the look in her big blue eyes could only be described as formidable.

Because he's an idiot (and kind of a sucker when it comes to baby blues) he grins back at her.  He'd never really gotten the whole hot-for-teacher thing, but he's got to admit that the whole kindergarten teacher look is definitely working for her.  He nods, straightening to his full height so as to loom over her diminutive figure.

It doesn't quite work as intended.  Once his identity is confirmed she immediately begins to barrage his chest and arms with tiny slaps that are cumulatively going to sting in the morning. 

"How could you do that?" she asks accusingly as the attack on his torso continues unrelentingly.  "Abed and Troy are my friends and you are jeapradizing their friendship with your turncoat speech making.

"You're the worst," she finishes dramatically, eyes narrowed now and features contorted in displeasure.

He raises his hands in toward her off and begins his defence.  "All I did was take advantage of the situation," he tells her.  "The Dean had me try to talk sense into them earlier - I even did some spiel about friendship hats - but Troy gave Abed the "All Tomato" and I figured if the school was going to go mad over some pillow and blanket war then I could at least get something out of it."

The expression on her face drops a little with his explanation, but not too much as he's still a conniving little jackrabbit regardless of whether he had created the situation or merely taken advantage of it.  "Well now you have to fix it," she demands, hands on her hips and her lips pursed.  The fierceness leaves her expression a moment later, replaced by the most heartbroken look he's ever seen outside of a Disney movie.

"They're hurting each other," she says in a desolate tone that matches her fluttering eyes.

He wants to remind her again that he'd already done his part - hello, friendship hats! - but there's something about that desperate look in her eyes that he can't say no to.  "What do you want me to do?" he asks with an exasperated sigh.

She bounces up on the balls of her feet and makes a quick, happy noise in the back of her throat that definitely _did not_ make his heart skip a beat.  She smiles widely, those blue eyes huge and bright, her whole face lighting up like a summer day.

"Just talk to them," she says emphatically.  "They'll listen to you if you tell them it needs to stop. They respect you."

He knows as much, having been caught up in Abed and Troy's schemes enough times over the course of the last three years to have worked that out for himself.  He wonders briefly how he managed to avoid getting to know Blue Eyes in all his run ins with the pair.  That situation needed to be immediately rectified.

But she's already turning on her heel and making her way back to where she came from.  He needs to act fast, which means foregoing his usual suave charm in favour of efficiency.

"You should give me your number," he calls after her while she's still in earshot.

She stops without turning around, only inclining her body ever so slightly towards him so that he knows she's listening.  Her head tips slightly, indicating that he'd piqued her curiosity.  "Why?"

He grins even though she can't see it from her vantage point.  "So I can tell you where we're meeting for dinner Saturday," he says casually, as though it were that obvious.  A foregone conclusion.

She shakes her head, but he can see the smile ghosting on her lips.  After a moments  though she offers her own counter-proposal.  "You can have my number _after_ you fix things with Troy and Abed," she says, sending a pointed look over her shoulder on the word 'after'.  

It seems a reasonable compromise.  Her terms are fair and he's happy to agree to them.  He tells her as much.  Then, because he's Jeff Winger and an idiot and can't help but push his luck:

 

"Can I get an advance?"

 

 


End file.
